WBD’s streaming boss JB Perrette said messaging around the Max password sharing initiative will start getting “firmer and more visible to subscribers over the months to come.”
So far a password sharing crackdown is limited to the U.S. retail subscriber base and the messaging is still “very soft,” he said on a call with analysts after Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q1 earnings. He expects to see benefits from the “extra member” rollout 2025 and into 2026 but didn’t put any figures on that. He was asked for his sense of the “extra opportunity” and the push terms of new subscribers and streaming profit. Max is offering an extra member add-on for $7.99 a month.
“It’s going to increase and really be a 12 to 18-month initiative as it rolls out to more subscriber cohorts here in the U.S. and globalizes later in the year and into ’26 and as the messaging on the password sharing gets more assertive over the course of the back half the year” and into next.
Netflix began the push to crack down on users who share passwords, seeing a significant boost, and other streamers followed suit.
WBD ended March with 122.3 million global streaming subscribers, an increase of 5.3 million globally vs Q4 as it rolls out into new markets. It’s benefitting from high profile programming Max and HBO programming from The White Lotus to The Pitt to The Last Of Us.
